Assurance
by foscari
Summary: Athrun finds Lacus terribly upset in her room and they have a talk. One shot.


Title: Assurance

Rating: K+ to be safe

Category: General/Angst

Sub-category: Slight AU-ish

Warnings: A/L pairing, sap, fluff

Feedback: Yes please.

Summary: One shot. Athrun finds Lacus terribly upset in her room and they have a talk.

Disclaimer: Gundam SEED are copyright to Hajime Yare, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Sunrise and Bandai. I don't own them.

* * *

She was upset.

He could tell when she was upset.

It showed in the way she was viciously attacking her bedroom, the walk-in closet and the adjoining bathroom. She would hide her tears behind smiles and her hurt behind the pretense of being busy.

At the moment, being busy demolishing her room.

He stood in the doorway to see her yanking the sheets off the bed. Her books, CDs, magazines and stuffed animals littered the floor where she had haphazardly tossed them. The bookshelf where they were once housed had been emptied. The trinkets and makeup she kept on the dresser top were swept away into the peach colored hat box by the foot of the table. The curtains had been pulled off their rods with such force, they were ripped. The coral-pink wallpapers had been viciously peeled off the walls by her earlier and it showed patches of the wall here and there. He hadn't seen her closet but he assumed it looked like a whirlwind had blown through; the bathroom might be the same.

She was tugging at the heavy mattress now, face set in a frown and teeth gritted. He started into the room when she lost her grip on the mattress and fell over backwards with a thud. He hurried around the bed to see her laying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. She threw her hands over her face, in a gesture that told him to 'Go away'. He sighed, leaning down and tugging a gloved hand away from her face, gripping the hand firmly but gently.

"I want to repaint the room orange," she said.

"It'll clash horribly with your hair," he said, the corners of his mouth tilting up in amusement.

She blinked at him for a second before smiling a tiny smile at him, and allowing him to pull her upright and lead her to the bed. She sat down carelessly; she was going to wrinkle the dress.

"What is it?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest.

She looked at him, her hands fisting into the material of the dress so hard her knuckles turned white.

"Do you think I'm...?" She trailed off, clearly losing the nerve to say what had been on her mind. Instead, she looked elsewhere. She was hurt and embarrassed, from the way her mouth had turned down and the brightness in her eyes.

"Stop that. You'll wrinkle the dress." He unclenched her hands, smoothed the skirt of the dress and placed her hands on her lap. "Now, tell me what's going on?"

"The girls that came with Father's friends," she said, still not looking at him.

He nodded. Her father had thrown a party to celebrate her eighteenth birthday. There had been quite a number of young people at the party; those who came with their parents or through invitation. Some were around her age but most were at least a year or two younger than her. All came from rather prestigious backgrounds. He didn't know why she would be upset over that. They all seemed polite and cordial. Although, a little too well mannered for his liking.

"They are all friends," she continued. "They know each other. They come from this prestigious private school on the south side of the city." She paused, wringing her hands now. "They're all Naturals. All of them."

Ah, that would explained why she was so upset but not why she was so keen on rearranging her room. "Does it bother you that much? You never used to let it bother you. This isn't like you."

She stopped wringing her hands, now clenching them into fists as she stared ahead of her. "No, it doesn't. They called the Coordinators mindless murderers. People who killed without remorse or emotion. Just like the Gundams they piloted."

He wanted to get up, go back downstairs and throttle the girls who said that and allowed her to overhear. She didn't need to be reminded of the war two years ago. Two years may be a long time but people are still recovering; wounds are still healing and nightmares are still being chased away.

"Don't pay attention to them," he said severely. "They're young and they like to talk. Just because they come from wealthy backgrounds doesn't give them the right to judge others like you or me. While we were fighting a war, they were holed up safe in their homes."

She didn't look as upset as before but there was still something in her eyes. Doubt? Or guilt? For taking part in a war that saw many innocents died for the conflicting beliefs and cause.

"We fight for what we believe in and for the freedom," he said, tone gentle as he reached for her hand, taking it. He stroked the back of her hand tenderly. "They can say what they want but the freedom they live in now is brought by us, by those 'mindless' Coordinators as they said. Don't let what they say affect you."

She finally looked at him, the brightness still in her eyes. She hardly ever cried. Tears were hidden behind smiles. He reached up, ran a thumb across her cheek. Her eyes fluttered shut at the touch. Their lips touched, lightly at first, like a butterfly's wings fluttering on your cheek then it deepened into something more.

Comfort. Hope. Love.

They parted and smiled at each other.

"Thank you," she said, the faint blush still tainting her cheeks.

He simply tucked a wayward lock of hair behind her ear and kissed her once more, this time on the forehead. "I'll get the servants to clean up the room for you."

She shook her head. "No. Just leave it for tonight."

"Sure?"

"Yes. Now, why don't we go back down to the party? I'm sure everyone's wondering where the birthday girl is by now."

"Aa." He watched as she smoothed the wrinkles on the skirt as best as she could before taking his hand, and they headed downstairs.

Owari.

AN: I like AZ/LC pairing as they make a cute couple, if things had worked out fro the series. For those who are KY/LC fans, gomen ne.


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